Bacteria are the causative agents for a great many diseases in plants and animals, including humans. Before the advent of antibiotics, such as penicillin, bacterial infections were considered to be non-treatable. Since that time, additional antibiotics have been developed to control and kill bacteria and treat bacterial infections.
Unfortunately, however, many antibiotics have proven over time to be less and less effective at controlling bacterial populations due to the development of resistance of the bacteria to the antibiotics. Bacterial resistance occurs because antibiotic therapy naturally kills most easily and swiftly the bacteria which are most sensitive to the antibiotic, leaving behind the bacteria which are less affected by the antibiotic therapy. Additionally, certain bacteria can pass antibiotic resistance genes to other otherwise sensitive bacteria. Over time, the populations of antibiotic sensitive bacteria tend to disappear, leaving only resistant populations.
Science has responded by discovering newer and better antibiotics with which to treat resistant bacteria. However, it appears that, as fast as new antibiotics can be produced, resistant strains of bacteria develop. Therefore, there is a clear and pressing need for new means of killing harmful bacteria.
The present invention provides a novel mechanism for killing bacteria by disrupting bacterial protein production. The risk of development of bacterial resistance to the compounds and method of the invention is minimized, as compared to that encountered with traditional antibiotics, because the invention takes advantage of natural processes of the bacteria.